


le moratoire

by thirtysecondson



Series: Lore Olympus October Prompt Series [1]
Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: F/M, Please Forgive me, this was very rushed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-02
Packaged: 2020-11-15 02:23:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20858660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thirtysecondson/pseuds/thirtysecondson
Summary: A very rushed first entry for the prompt of a fall outing for Persie and Hadies :)Written w/ a broken foot and COMPLETELY UNBETAED OR PROOFREAD.





	le moratoire

He hated the smell of pumpkin. Ok, perhaps that wasn’t true. He hated the smell of rotting pumpkin, a reminder of the decay and death that surrounded him. As if he needed another reminder. And yet fall brought pumpkin to his home in abundance, with coffees and candies, spiced breads that made him want to gag at first sniff. Their office was brimming with it, and if had the time, he might have fled on vacation. An idea that still had a wild sense of appeal, if it weren’t for- 

“I brought pumpkin bread!” Persephone chered, Hecate drawing up beside her to peak beneath the pink tea towel. The scent of spice and warmth filled the air in an instant and Hades felt himself grow dizzy at the conflicting sensory overload. He gripped the bridge of his nose, wondering how it was his life had come to this.

“That smells delicious,” Hecate’s fingers were quick to pluck a piece, chowing down immediately. “Tastes good, too,” she mumbled, a crumb spilling to her lip. Persephone reached, brushing the bits away with a soft smile and a pseudo stern look. Hecate only grinned wider, reaching over to pinch at pink skin. Persephone laughed, placing the tray of baked goods on the office kitchen counter. Hades watched the whole ordeal with a mix of horrendous jealousy and a grateful measure of distance.

But then she moved closer, a smaller towel in hand for him. He grimaced, wondering how he could quietly get out of her clutches without making such a fuss. She was too quick for him, in front of him in a second, with bright eyes and a small wrapped something. It was pink, and held out to him like some sort of offering. The first of its kind to the God of the Underworld.

“For you, Hades,” she smiled, holding the small package out to him. With a fake smile he accepted it, tucking it away in his suit pocket and looking back to her to find her staring expectantly. 

“Aren’t you gonna open it?” She asked, hands folded neatly behind her back, swaying on her heels. Hades groaned internally, his brain already dreading the onslaught of pumpkin to his nostrils. Carefully, he plucked the small contents from his pocket and unwrapped it dutifully, surprised when he opened it to find a few pieces of delicately layered baklava. His head fell to the side, eyes questioning her without finding the voice to do so.

“You don’t like pumpkin,” Persie smiled, looking almost smug in his company then. Hecate rolled her eyes, watching the whole exchange and licking the last flavor of Persephone’s comfort food from her fingers. “Get a room,” she whispered under her breath, taking her exit with a second eye roll and a vehement displeasure at their supposed coupling.

“I do not,” he answered her accusation, still astounded at it to give much more than that. Hades looked about the kitchen, his mouth in a tight line, unsure what he was meant to do now. He blinked a few moments, looking at the pastries and curious how it was she had known to differentiate his preferences.  
“You leave the office anyone brews the pumpkin coffee,” Persephone grinned, positively beaming that she’d managed to surprise him. If only she’d understood how easily she had been doing that the past few months. Hades brows raised at that, wondering how long it was she had been watching him and his aversion to the fall scents. “I thought maybe since I already knew you liked this, I could bring you some so you could get a treat without having to gag through it.”

She giggled after, and he found himself wanting to giggle along with her. Her hand went to her hip, an almost serious look on her face, and Hades took the moment to appreciate her attire. Professional in a way that made her seem profound. As if she were already running Underworld and all its many facets. She’d chosen a soft gray, something not quite so blatant as the white of her first day. She was learning. Beginning to blend in better so the shades were comfortable with her around. Persephone had adapted quickly, had begun making friends and earning favors from different departments.

“What’s on the docket for today, Sir?” She asked, eyebrows wiggling at him for some caseload or another. Hades opened his mouth, remembering the souls of the vanquished that had come from Ares’s wars. The vast bloodbaths left in their wake. Theirs would be complicated souls to weigh, a problem that could be dealt with tomorrow.

“How about an expedition?” He offered, noticing their, for once, empty kitchen. It was strange. There was hardly a morning that wasn’t filled with chattering in this very space, endless cups of coffee being brewed, and most recently, the scent of everflowing allspice coming from the kitchen. It was killing him, and any excuse to get out of the office was a good one. His hands dug themselves into his pockets, shrugging at her at the idea of getting out.

“Oh? To where exactly?” Persephone asked, already tucking herself against his arm, allowing him to lead the way. He wondered how long she had been that way, allowing herself to be led new places. Experience the world beside another. Thought from what he had heard of Demeter, her daughter allowed few freedoms. Still, he allowed her hand to fit neatly into his elbow, his one step equating to several of hers. Their walk to the garage was long and dark, highlighted only by soft floor lights, a yellow hue cast on dark tiles. She noted the warmth in it, a place kept cold for the dead, but kept warm for his guests, few as they might have been.

The click of the car being unlocked pulled her from her observations. Pulled him from peering at her. He couldn’t recall when they became so comfortable in one another’s company. If it had been instant, or if it had grown these past few weeks at Underworld Corp. or elsewhere. Hades was more uncertain now than he had been during the Great War. More uncertain than when he’d been stuck in impending loneliness forever. The thought made him shiver and Persie took a half step closer, the warmth of her body a reminder that he was no longer quite so alone.

“So are there hints or are you going to tell me where we’re going?” Persephone asked after clearing her throat, pulling Hades fully back to present. He grinned back at her, put the key in the ignition and felt the whir of the engine bring more life to him than before.

“I thought you might enjoy seeing a different side of Autumn,” he offered, putting the car in drive and catching the faint scent of gasoline. It stirred something in him, akin to patience or happiness. Persie only smiled at him from the passenger seat, watching the lights shift from solid colors to subtle blurs as they sped away in the darkness. “We don’t receive offerings like the rest. No altars or grand gestures. It’s only a special time of year, that mortals make their prayers to us. It started in a far off land, and ventured nearer and nearer until now, the Pantheons celebrate together.”

They drove quickly, moving further and further from what she knew as their homeland. The rolling hills passed, the sun seemed to disappear and the surrounding countryside took on a new tone of golden or brown, or something strange. A haze over the flatlands that spread out before them both. Her eyes were wide, watching the scenery change with something beyond fascination. The borders began to blur and the flatland turned into something less tangible, less recognizable than ever before.

When they arrived to their mystery destination, the shroud lifted, gold coating the clouds and providing a guiding light as they ventured nearer to what she imagined was the center of whatever this place was. “It goes by many names,” he finally said, watching her curiosity move with her eyes, taking in what he had not visited often. “Le Mortuiare is its most famous, I suppose,” Hades added, parking in some arbitrary spot, she hardly understood. The world seemed so strange in this place, and when he stopped, she wondered if she was even permitted in such a place.

“H-Hades?” she asked, watching him begin to slip from the car. He paused, letting her stop him, per usual. “Am I-?” She paused, looking at him with wide eyes, wider than he’d seen before. He smiled back, hand still on the door as he looked on her in what was the closest to fear he’d seen in her eyes. “I wouldn’t bring you if weren’t, Little Goddess,” he replied, closing the door behind him and watching as she lingered a moment more, before slipping out as well.

When she stepped to the ground it shook beneath her, recognizing the power of life and Spring. He felt it, and she recognized being in a place where she did not belong. She waited, wondering if he might tell her to turn back, get back in the car. Never to see this place that he ran away to for sanctuary. Instead, he held out his hand, smiled at her with such open affection it made her misstep. She fumbled into his open palm and when they touched she could see this land for its full worth of glory.

“Hades,” she spoke quietly, watching the gold change into something magnanimous. It was like the many changed colors of the mortal world. The reds, yellows and somewhere inbetweens that she had admired as a child as her mother collected a harvest. It was incredible and the air smelled crisp, not unlike the chill of Tower 1, but with a less clinical edge. “It’s beautiful,” she marveled, still not sure she was meant to be here, but wondering how such a place existed that these Gods of the Underworld kept secret.  
“We’ll never be worshipped, not like true Gods,” he grinned, looking at the desserts, watching as cookies, breads, flowers, flowed into something golden. Transforming before their eyes into nectar. “But we do enjoy these gifts to loved ones, our reminder to check in on those who are still remembered in the mortal realm.”

Hades smiled down at her, watching her gentle hand reach to touch petals that had drooped since they had first been placed at the gravesite. They perked to life and she smiled, the gold shimmering at her touch. “For a man who doesn’t like pumpkins, there are an awful lot in this place,” she admonished, taking note of the carved lanterns adorning columns, those set about for mere decoration. Hades only shrugged at them, tapped once at his nose and she seemed to understand enough.

They continued on, a trail of gifts lining their path. “Does it make you angry? Not to be worshipped in the same way?” Persie asked as they walked, her small hand flexing in his and holding it that much tighter. He looked down at it, surprised she’d not released their joining yet.

“I suppose it depends on the day. Some days I don’t know that I warrant any such praise, others I imagine that if the right person were to come along, they might worship me in spite of their better impulses,” Hades answered earnestly, surprised at how easy she was to talk to even here. They came to a cliffside, a ledge for her to peer over and look on in wonder at those that had left gifts It spanned for miles, stretching across the horizon in a blur of hues. Her mouth fell open, not sure if she was more surprised at the color of the sheer mass of remembrance.

“Most people go apple picking in Fall,” she finally spoke when she got her bearings, looking back at him and running the pad of her thumb on the back of his hand. He shrugged again, looking out over the gifts and smiling softly to himself. “Most of those apples end up here,” he answered back, enjoying the way her fingers worked over his skin. She stopped for a moment, stilling her hand long enough to look up at him with a curious lift to her brow.

“Do you think, I mean, I know it’s not traditional, but m-maybe,” she paused, looking at all the many gifts and thinking back to the small token of her own. “Maybe I could worship you!” She finally got it out and smiled wide at him in the process. Hades felt his heart nearly beat out of his chest at the thought, imagining all manor of filth before settling on a soft smile back to her, easing his pulse back down to a notable thud.

“Most Goddesses don’t worship other Gods, Kore,” he mimicked her thumb motion back, softly strumming the soft skin of her hands. He expected to see the rejection flash across her face in a blush, and instead found bewilderment and a hard gaze across the land his co-conspirators had created. She waited several moments, biting her lips together before she gave her reply.

“You do.”

**Author's Note:**

> Leave comments, criticism, STILL ACCEPTING CLIFF NOTES, also morphine today is a great plus.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed what is probably at this point a stream of consciousness of ideas. WILL BE BETTER AND MORE ON IT NEXT TIME.


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